No more than one word was required.
When asked if Ohio State took its home floor with the sense of urgency necessary to avoid a disastrous upset defeat on Tuesday, Buckeye forward Justin Ahrens said simply, “no.” Of course, if you watched Ohio State’s performance against Nebraska – the last-place team in the Big Ten – the response went without saying.
The Huskers led for almost 30 minutes of play in Columbus, taking a four-point lead at halftime and never allowing Ohio State to get back out in front after that. Nebraska, which was a 15-point underdog before tip-off at the Schottenstein Center, went up by as many 11 points before all was said and done.
The 78-70 upset was Ohio State’s second such defeat since Sunday, when the Buckeyes lost by 15 to a Maryland team that sits in 11th place in the conference. Ohio State had previously beaten both opponents in the first meetings earlier in the season, but the Buckeyes looked like the lesser program in each rematch.
“I think confidence is a pretty tenuous thing, and it wasn’t too long ago that we performed well here. We’re obviously really struggling right now, that’s no secret,” Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said after the game. “We’ll see if this group has the ability to gain a little trust in each other and confidence. We’ve got a really good group, we’ve got really good guys. I think we’re searching a little bit and I think we’re pressing too much right now, certainly on the offensive end.”
Ohio State has issues on both sides of the ball, but defense is where the Buckeyes need to improve most, according to Holtmann. Allowing an average of 71.1 points to their opponents all season, that number has ballooned to 78.7 in the past three games for the Buckeyes, with the latter two of them being losses.
Nebraska shot 55.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range in the first half as it mounted a lead on the Buckeyes, and freshman guard Bryce McGowens finished with 26 points by himself on Tuesday.
“I think bottom line, we have to defend way better than what we’re defending right now. It comes back to that,” Holtmann said. “We’ve gotta be way more connected on the defensive end, and then I thought we really pressed offensively once we got down a little bit. We had some unique lineups in there obviously and we just pressed too much.”
Opposing guards have had their way with the Buckeyes recently, as even before Tuesday, Maryland guards Eric Ayala and Fatts Russell combined for 50 points in a blowout win over Ohio State. One game before that, it was Illinois’ Alfonso Plummer racking up 26 points in a game that went down to the final moments.
Holtmann said several Buckeyes have struggled to defend the ball individually, and the group’s collective effort in help defense has not been good enough to cover that up.
“There’s very few teams that defend the way we defend right now and even really advance in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the reality,” Holtmann said. “And those numbers, we’ve talked about those numbers as a group. That’s the reality. Obviously we gotta get healthy, that’s a big component. We gotta get healthy and stay healthy. But if we don’t defend and rebound, we’ll be terminal.”
A grueling end-of-season schedule has not aided the Buckeyes as of late, as Ohio State has played five games in the last 11 days and still has two more coming by the end of the week. Ahrens said the rapid succession of games has meant less time for the Buckeyes to prepare for each opponent.
“A lot of these past few games have been one-day prep, so we’re coming in one day before the game, going through a lot of actions and stuff, trying to guard other teams’ actions, working on our offense, obviously, how they’re gonna guard us,” Ahrens said. “It’s a long season, there’s a lot of seasons within a season. So I think the biggest thing for us is just how are we gonna respond with our backs against the wall, like it is right now.”
The Buckeyes have dealt with injuries as well, with starting center Zed Key missing Tuesday night’s game with an ankle issue and Kyle Young leaving the contest after eight minutes to receive treatment for an illness.
But Holtmann said the team must focus on the things it can control, and work to correct as much as it can before taking on two formidable foes in the next five days: Michigan State and Michigan.
“I think the greater issue is our lack of ability to stop people right now and our lack of just connection on the defensive and offensive end. And again, it’s my fault,” Holtmann said. “We don’t have that right now. It’s not like we’ve got an unbelievable across the board defensive group, but we can play way more connected than what we are on both ends. That’s the biggest thing in front of me right now.”
